Team Bella visit Number 10

Roshni Assomull

March 10, 2017

The biggest highlight of the Bella journey so far! This week we were invited to celebrate International Women's Day at Downing Street with PM Theresa May. When Shaleena and I first received the invitation over email we thought it might be a hoax! We had to follow up with a call to make sure it was a real invite.

So on Wednesday, we put on our best smart attire for the most important event we've ever been invited to. When we got to Downing street and handed our invitations to the police guard to check our names on the list, a little part of us still feared that we weren't really invited and might be turned away. Fortunately, we were ushered in and headed towards the security check.

The whole experience was so surreal! We walked through the famous number 10 door and had to hand in our phones for security. Then we ascended a yellow staircase lined with portraits of all the past PMs. We had no idea what the inside would look like. Our only point of reference were scenes of PM Hugh Grant in Love Actually...The room was was filled with women and men from a range of industries. We met some truly incredible people - the first female PT in the navy, the head of music at St Pauls and the COO of Sky TV! Halfway through the event the PM herself came out and was chatting and taking photos with the attendees. Shaleena and I tried our best to take a picture with her but never quite managed to be in the right spot! PM May then gave a speech discussing her efforts for women in the UK and worldwide. We felt so privileged to be in the same room with such inspiring people on International Women's Day with the UK's second female Prime Minister.

We still have no idea how we received the invitation. Apparently all the invitees were nominated. So the biggest thank you to whoever is responsible. We are so grateful and humbled by this recognition of our efforts and hope one day we will be able to pay it forward.